Emre Arolat on AI’s Disruptive Power in Architecture: TÜSİAD Digital Turkey Conference 2024

Speaking at the TÜSİAD Digital Turkey Conference 2024, renowned architect Emre Arolat examines the disruptive power of artificial intelligence on architecture and design, and how professionals should approach these new technologies. Arolat notes that while data analysis and simulation have long been used in urban planning, AI and robotics are now fundamentally transforming traditional construction processes. He illustrates this with a case study from a 2015 Abu Dhabi hotel project, which took his team four months of intensive work to design, a process he shows can now be replicated with similar results in mere minutes using AI tools like Midjourney. Arolat calls it ironic that architects feel threatened by AI, arguing that what matters instead is learning how to “flirt” with these tools and put them to creative use. Drawing on Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra and simulation, he also reflects on how AI-generated content is reshaping our perception of reality, at times standing in for the real thing itself.

You can watch the video here.